Cracked Ribs and Broken hearts
by gretagarbo1776
Summary: May could date whoever she liked, as long as he treated her right. Peter had made that rule for himself because he wouldn't like anyone she dated, simply because they weren't Ben. They could do whatever they wanted to him and he wouldn't so much as squeak, because better him then May. in case you couldn't tell, this doesn't work. TW: HEAVY ANGST! This deals with abuse, beware


Peter sighed, propping his head in his hand. May was off on a job interview, somewhere in Michigan, and wouldn't be back for two days, thirty nine minutes, and 47 seconds. Not that he was counting. He didn't even want her to go, it was unlikely she would take the job, she was under qualified for it and neither of them wanted to move. His plan had been to stay with Mr. Stark, but apparently he was 'an enabler of unhealthy habits' and 'didn't understand the concept of a bedtime' so she had asked her boyfriend Christopher, or Chris, to check in on him. Now, he wanted to make one thing perfectly clear, he didn't like Chris, he never had, but it was cemented when MJ had decided to come over for 'homework help'. AKA she wanted to avoid her little brother and eat his food.

"Hello Peter." Chris had said, practically strutting in. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend. What's your name pretty thing?" He asked, extending his hand to MJ.

"Not his girlfriend." She said, turning back to his sketchbook, apparently feeling no need to respond to the question or the handshake.

"Well, nice to meet you 'Not His Boyfriend' he said, laughing. Peter rolled his eyes. He was happy for May, and maybe it was because he had been there, but he felt like Ben's body was barely cold. Which is part of why he dismissed his initial misgivings about Chris, after all, there wasn't an hour, let alone a day he didn't think about the death of his uncle, so of course he didn't like Mays new boyfriend.

MJ had left pretty quickly after that, not wanting to hand around. She had given him a half formed explanation. She had pulled him aside the day after at school while waiting for the rest of the decaliton team to show up.

"Your aunt has a boyfriend?" She'd asked him.

"Mhm." He'd said, not particularly wanting to discuss the situation.

" I don't like him." She said, her voice had surprised him. Sure MJ could be a bit quick to judge, but there was no reason for her to think that.

"I- wha- but… why?" He'd stuttered out.

"I don't know Peter, but I have been around enough creepy teachers and gas station attendants to know how those guys are, and there is something wrong." She had said. "Just… be careful with him, okay?" She had asked. Actually had made him promas. An angry MJ was not a safe MJ, and there was definitely some kind of anger there.

And now here he was, sitting around, dreading Chris's appearance. Peter wasn't really in any danger, he knew that. He was spiderman, he could get beat around and turn out fine, he knew that. If he wanted to he could kill Chris in two seconds flat, not that he would ever do so intentionally. The only reason he laid down and took the beatings, aside from his identity, was because MJ had been right. People like that will always hurt someone, and he would rather get beat burnt drowned and stabbed before he let Aunt May get a scratch because of him. That didn't however, mean he had to like it. Chris has progressed to actually beating him may left, probably so she wouldn't see the bruises, and he felt like he might actually be dying.

He heard the jingle of keys in the lock, making him tense. Personally he knew that no evidence of Chris's attacks where going to stay for longer than a day at most, a plus of his superpowers, but there was no super painkiller power, so the bruises and broken bones sure hurt until then.

"_Peter!" _Chris's voice slurred, making peter wince, turning around slowly. "_Why aren't you at school_?"

"Well, it is a Saturday." He said sarcastically. Not the best approach, but he wasn't going to stop anything by being kind, and he didn't feel particularly charitable at the moment.

His suspicions were confirmed when Chris pushed him roughly against a wall, forcing him to look the taller man in the eye. "Don't be smart with me, or I'll hafta teach you a lesson."

This was serious. Peter knew it was. He had been made to watch enough rapping with cap videos at school to know that, but he'd fought with enough pretty robbers that threats that he just found Chris funny. It sounded like he'd watched a TV show.

"The hell are you smiling at?"Chris growled. Reminding Peter that there was one key difference between him and the rest of the criminals; Peter couldn't fight back.

His spidey senses buzzed loudly, urging him to duck away from the fist coming straight at his head. Peter didn't know what made him do it, but instead of ducking away, he turned his face slightly, so the bruises would land directly on his cheekbone and not in his hairline. Mostly because bruises on his head made taking showers hell. It had been something he'd picked up spidermanning. Admittedly, when he did this on patrol he would just avoid the punch completely, but he didn't have that option now.

0o0o0

Peter had recently sunk off to his room, with the full intention to sleep a non-recommended amount of time, when his phone rang. Rolling over with a grone, he looked at the phone, feeling dread sink in his stomach. Mr. Stark was calling him. Although the ringtone (Set to the theme song of the iron man cartoon he grew up watching) should have given it away. He sighed, answering the phone, despite desperately wanting to roll over and sleep. He knew that it would be obvious that there was an issue, and knowing Tony he would over react. Although, he didn't know if it counted as overreacting if it was justified, but with no supporting information.

"Hey, this is Peter." He said tiredly. Tony had taught him to always say his name when answering the phone, just to avoid confusion.

"Peter! Hey, you wanna come down to the lab today? May said to not let you get bored or you might actually burn the house down."

"One time!" He said indignantly through the phone. "And I was 13, totally different situation!"

"Oh, sure when _you _burn a house down two years ago, you get left alone for the weekend, but when _i _do it, it's arson." Tony quipped through the phone. Peter laughed, wincing at the aching in his rib.

"So you coming over?" Tony asked, redirecting the conversation. Peter walked over to the mirror, trying to judge if he could pass off the bruise on his face well enough. Tony knew he had a few issues at school, so he was hoping that his mentor wouldn't push to hard.

"Uuuuhhhh Mmm… sure." Peter said finally, smiling at Tonys laughing over the phone.

"Okay, you wanna swing over? I can send Happy if not." Tony offered.

"Nah, I'll take the bus." Peter said. He knew that his mentor would rather die a slow and painful death from _anything _rather than taking the bus. Surprisingly, germs bothered him quite a bit given his lifestyle. Peter always loved people watching, trying to come up with stories about the people around him. Plus, it always made him feel better after a subway bombing, knowing he would be right in the middle to help.

"Bwah! Strange child." Tony said. "Okay, see you soon."

"Bye." Peter said, hastily hanging up the phone. He would have to find a way to trick Chris incase he came over again, although he doubted he'd notice or care, so he made a fast pillow decoy on the bed, complete with his backup phone (because when Tony Stark is your mentor you have those kinds of things). He cursed, seeing how badly his hands were shaking, and opted to grab a banana before leaving, hoping it was as easily addressable as hunger.

The busride was short and blissfully uneventful, and before he knew it, he was in the lobby at Tony's building… Avengers building? He didn't really keep track.

"Hey! Kid, you can't be in here!" A guard yelled at him, rushing in front of him. Sighing, peter sidestepped.

"I have permission, I swear. Ask Mr. Stark if you don't believe me." He supplied. He really didn't want to deal with a new guard today.

"Ha ha kid. I'm not joking, turn around or I'll havta use force." Oh boy.

"Why does nobody believe I know Mr. Stark? I know I look _kinda _pathetic but…" He started, stepping around the guard again, moving to scan his card on the door. To his surprise, his spidey senses tingle in the back of his head, making him side step and whip around just in time to see four bullet holes implanted in the concrete where his brain would have been.

"_I said turn around!" _The guard screamed, holding the pistol with shaky hands. Peter just stared wide eyed between the man and the bullet holes. Normally he would have jumped around a bit, maybe crawled on the ceiling, and gotten the gun _away _from this idiot, but if the throbbing from his side was any kind of indication something had been broken during an altercation with Chris, and he didn't want to jeopardize the healing. If he let it go to long, Karen would be required to report it to Tony, and he did _not _want to fumble through an explanation for that.

"Okay, okay, turning around." He said, raising his hands. De Escalation he could do. He ba cecily practiced every night on patrol.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Tony's voice came from the elevator that Peter had been _trying _to enter.

"Ummm…" Peter started elegantly. Before he got a chance to explain, the guard started going _off _about what had happened, actually trying to convince Tony that Peter was a terrorist and that the guard had saved Tony's life in the same breath.

"Go pack your stuff, your fired." Tony said calmly.

"Bu- I ju- wha-" The guard stammered, clearly surprised. Tony didn't repeat himself, simply grabbed Peters sleeve, turning to the elevator. Peter followed, happy to escape the rest of humanity for a couple hours with the avengers.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Tony grabbed peter in a (almost) bone crushing hug, making him flinch on reflex. He knew he was safe with Tony, but after Chris had _literally stabbed him in the back with a fork _hugs freaked him out. After he had a second to process, he hugged him mentor back, trying to stop himself from shaking, if only by sheer force of will. Based on Tony's face, visible due to the warriors, he would say it didn't work very well. Peter hated guns.

Tony let go of him a moment before the elevator reached his lab, silent permission for him to bounce off to his own project. Not that Peter particularly wanted to, but he figured he would keep some semblance of normal going for as long as possible, so he went off to the desk de-gummer he was programming currently. He was so damn tired of getting caught off guard, both at school and some of the fancy dinners Tony would occasionally drag him to, with the promise of french fries and ice cream afterwards.

"Peter?" Tony asked after a second. Peter snapped his head up, pushing down his initial adrenaline response.

"Uh, yeah?" He asked, trying to make his voice sound as casual as possible.

"May texted me to ask you how 'Chris' is for her." Tony said, looking at the phone in confusion. "Oh, that was supposed to be discreet. Okay, well, too late for that. Who's Chris?"

Okay, this was fine, everything is fine. Don't panic, that will just make things worse. Panicking is bad. No panicking. Shit he was panicking.

"Apparently he won't stop texting her about you, did something happen?" Tony asked, his voice laced with concern that sounded incredibly genuine, surprising Peter. He didn't want to know what Chris was texting that would have both May and Tony worried.

"Eh."

"Peter…" Tony said, using his adult-y voice. Peter hated that voice, it meant he was bothering Mr. Stark, which was the _last _thing he wanted to do. Sighing, he swiveled around to face Tony.

"Hey. where'd that happen?" Tony asked, brushing his thumb over Peter's bruise. It took a lot of self control to not flinch away, and peter was sure that if he hadn't seen the hand coming he would have. Still, he tensed at the touch.

"Oh, just tripped."

"Okay then… go ahead and get back to your robot, I'll tell her you're fine." Tony said, making Peter smile.

"Thank you Mr. Stark." He said, letting out a breath. Tony eyed him though, and Peter knew that he had only put off the discussion. But for now, tinkering in calm silence Tony's lab, which wasn't ever truly quiet, Peter was okay with that. It made him feel a little braver, like he could face whatever happened at home.

0o0o0o

All Peter wanted was to go back to four days ago. Four days ago, May was still gone, and Chris was out drinking his heart out, far away from his house, and even farther away from his aunt. Peter would have happily taken his secret to the grave, and had planned on it, but life seemed to have different plans. Tony had not, in fact, told May that Peter was okay. Quite the opposite in fact, and given the fact that Tony had once let him swing home with a broken arm (Although he swore on several peoples body parts he didn't know about it) May had taken the complaint seriously.

"Peter, I want you to take your shirt off.' May said, crossing her arms. Peter almost spit out his coke.

"I- what? Why- huh?" He stuttered smoothly, followed by him almost choking to death from inhaling his side.

"Take off your shirt. I want to make sure you are okay." She repeated, her gaze icy. He had no idea what Tony had told her, but it definitely wasn't anything good. He pulled his hoodie over his head, revealing his forearms.

"Don't be sarcastic Peter, your tee-shirt to." She said.

"How can I be sarcastic? I didn't even say anything?" He pointed out, stalling cleverly. With any luck she would take the bait, and drop the issue long enough for his bruises to fade all the way.

"Off. Now. And don't try and stall with me, you can't lie to save your life." Well then. Given no choice, he pulled the tee over his head, wincing at her reaction. Between a few robbers and Chris's earlier fight with him, his abdomen was black and blue.

"It was just a bad night on patrol, I swear." he started slowly. She just shot him a look, still refusing to say anything. " May…?"

"Don't lie to me Peter. Tony called me because the suit picked up on these long before you fought anyone." Well crud. He had no idea what to do now. If he denied it and she found out anyway then everything would be worse, but if he told her and she hadn't been suspicious, he would have gone and ruined everything.

"Uhhh…."

"Peter." She said, taking him by the face, furrowing her brow at his poorly concealed flinch. "Who. did. This. to. You." She asked, tightening her grip with each word. It was actually starting to hurt a little.

"Aunt May, calm down…" He started. He didn't understand her reaction at all honestly. He got beat up as spiderman all the time, this was no different, he just didn't have a mask to hide his face.

"Calm down? _Calm down? Peter Benjamin Parker-" _She started. He slowly started putting his shirt back on. If he was gonna be lectured, it was best to not give her an example to point to. Plus he was cold.

"Please?" He tried instead, keeping his eyes on the ground. He didn't have to be looking at her to see that he was melting at that.

"Was it Chris?" She asked him. His head snapped up involuntarily, because it didn't make sense for her mind to jump to that. He never did anything around her. "Was it him baby?" She asked, her voice wobbling.

"Okay, May listen, before you do anything…"

"It was." She said. It wasn't a question. He just meet her eyes. He wasn't going to confirm or deny, but she could read him like an open book. Actually everyone could, he wasn't good at hiding his emotions.

"I'm sorry." he offered. She wasn't paying attention, instead stoking over to the phone, holding his wrist in her other hand, dialed his number, and started yelling through the receiver in the space of 30 seconds.

"May…" He started, only to have her hand clamped over his mouth. Apparently his opinion isn't needed at the moment.

"Don't you hang up Chris. Don't you _FUC-``she_ cut herself off, slamming the receiver down before finishing to word.

"May…?" He asked quietly. The silence of the apartment felt like it was pressing down on couldn't pick up on anything other than her erratic heartbeat.

"The dicks coming over here. I want you to leave." She said calmly, speeding off to his room.

"What? Aunt May-" He started.

"No. If he did that then I don't want you around him. Pack a bag, you're gonna stay with Tony for a couple weeks, understand?" She said firmly. He nodded sullenly.

"I'll go pack." He had zero intention of leaving me alone with Chris. The sole reason he had done what he did was so that she would stay safe, she didn't just get to jeopardize that because she didn't think Peter would take a hit. But Peter also knew when to stop arguing. Let them think they've won.

It wasn't a minute latter that the door started pounding. "Go." May said, shoving the bag into his hand. "Use the window, it's safer now."

He crawled out, scaling the bricks easily enough. He really should be wearing his suit, someone could see him, but his aunt's apartment faced a back corner of queens, where nobody went if they could avoid it. Anyone that saw him would undoubtedly have enough drugs in there system to discount any evidence in court. He paused once on the roof, trying to focus his hearing in on the conversation. He couldn't quite make out the words, but the tones where enough to tell that both the adults were dangerous.

Four streets down, he could hear a mugging in process. He didn't have his suit, and would never be able to go help on foot, and so Peter knew that he was, in effect, useless to the woman, but the more he tried to hear his aunt, the more he heard the other woman. He was about to give in, sprint off and trying to find a way to help, when he heard another scream. He was moving before he registered it. May hadn't screamed sense Ben died.

"_How dare you?" _Chris screamed in her face, throwing her down. Out of the corner of Peters eye he saw her head bounce on the linoleum once, before she stilled.

Peter didn't have any memory of throwing himself through the bedroom window or crossing the room, all he remembered was the feeling of pressing his forearm against Christophors throat. The feel of the man's angry breathing on his face. He smelt like alcohol and cigarettes and everything opposite of what was safe.

"_Get your grubby hands off of me." _Chris spat, clawing at Peters hands. He only intensified his hold. He wasn't going to kill him, not by a long shot, but Chris needed to know that Peter _could_.

"You do not touch my aunt, do you understand me?" Peter asked. Hearing his own voice scared him. He didn;t know he would sound so angry.

"Piss off." Chris said. Peter took him by his shoulders, knocking the man into the wall once. Just enough to rattle him. Be careful of his gripp. Don't kill. Don't kill don't kill don't kill.

"Listen, you can beat me around all you want. I don't like it but I won't fight back. But you touch my aunt again, you hurt her, and I will snap your neck, you understand me?" He growled close to the intoxicated man's ear.

"I do, let me go!" chris yelped. Message delivered, he dropped the man unceremoniously to the ground. Chris picked himself back up, dusted his clothing off, and started making his way to the door, pausing in front of May, who was still out cold.

"Bitch." He muttered under his breath. Peter flew across the room in a instead, his fist colliding with the man's temple, knocking him out cold. He looked down at the two unconscious adults.

"Oh no oh no oh no." He muttered, grabbing the phone and dialing quickly. "Please pick up please pick up, come on Mr. Stark…"

"Hello? This is Tony." He said netralaya through the phone.

"Mr. Stark?" He asked, feeling like he was going to break for the first time that day.

"Kid? What's going on, is everyone okay?" Tony asked. He must have some kind of 6th sense or something.

"I… No. No there not. I might have just killed someone." He said. "I mean, he's breathing… but I don't know about his brain I punched him pretty hard and just… I dunno… help."

"Okay Kid, stay calm. I'm in the suit on my way to you. Tell me everything that happened." Tony said.

"Well, May and her boyfriend were fighting because he accidentally gave me… a bruise or two… and he knocked her head really hard on the floor and so I told her to never do it again and to leave and then he called her a bad word and so I punched him and now neither of them will wake up and I'm going to jail forever." He said, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

"Shit. Okay Peter, I'm close. I'm gonna hang up, and I want you to call 911 for me and tell them just what you told me, okay?" Tony said.

"O-Okay… thank you Mr. Stark." He said, pulling his knees up.

"Of course kid. You'll be okay. I'll be there soon."

0o0o0o0o

Tony could feel his heart in his throat as he raced up the steps. The elevators apparently out of order. He regretted ever letting Peter leave his sight ever, and would be installing multiple new safety features to Peters suit, as well as an additional protocol for un deterced injuries. Also Peter wasn't allowed out of his sight. Did he mention that?

The grubby little door, with a mat that said 'home sweet apartment' and a single fake rock with a hide key underneath created him. Not hesitating to knock, he pounded on the door, only feeling a little bad about Peters heightened senses. He wasn't worried about hurting his ears at the moment.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked. Tony almost froze seeing the teen there. He had blood on his hand, which he was concerned about, but more alarming was his expression. Not for the first time he regretted Peter having seen what he has. No kid should have that kind of haunted ara about them. Not hesitating, he pulled the trembling teen against his side, which was good, because he didn't think Peter could stand up much longer on his own.

"Hey kid." He said, paying attention to his voice. The last thing he wanted to do was break the kid further by scaring him. Luckily, he had practice hiding anger, no matter what Pepper thought.

"I-I didn't mean… he just… He hit May and..." Peter stammered, unshed tears glinting in the dull light of the apartment.

"He hit May?" He asked, shocked. Somehow, no matter what Peter had already told him, seeing the strong woman crumpled on the ground with the man next to her, made Tony go cold.

Peter nodded his head, the movement disrupting a single tear, making it fall quickly down his left cheek. His cheek. "He hit _you."_

Peter didn't reply. It hadn't been a question. Instead, Tony just bent down, squeezing Peter tightly before letting him go. Peter wasn't going to be allowed out of his site after this, whether he knew it or not.

Tony just nodded along, Following the teen to the kitchen. As soon as his aunt was in sight the boy froze against Tony. He couldn't blame him either, her temple was bleeding, and there was clear fluid dripping down her ear into her hairline.

"Peter," Tony started, turning to face Peter and gripping him by both of his shoulders. The poorly concealed flinch didn't go over his head, but they had more pressing issues. "No one blames you for what happened here. Right now, I need you to go get a phone and call an ambulance for Chris and May, I'll handle the legal issues with Chris, but I think your aunt is really hurt, okay?" Peter hesitated, staring into Tony's eyes with his own big browns ones, wide with fear. "As soon as May is well enough I'll have her transferred to the compound," he assured. Peter seemed okay with this plan, because he snapped back to reality, rushing to grab the phone off the wall.

"Come on May," Tony muttered under his breath as he crouched down beside her. "Peter needs you here." Her pulse was thready and irradiance, but it was definitely there, which was a good start. Not a great one, but better than he had expected. He looked in her ears. The fluid was completely clear, no sight of blood, although he couldn't remember if that was good or not, he was guessing not. Afraid to aggravate a spinal injury, Tony started clearing the mess around her, hoping to keep her safe from dish fragments if she started seizing.

"I called them Mr. Stark." Peter said, reappearing. Tony reached out, hugging the teen tightly against him.

"You're gonna stay with me until this is all cleared up, m'kay?" He asked. Peter just nodded, a single tear falling directly onto the carpet. "We're gonna wait for the ambulance to get here, but while we wait, I need you to tell me what happened, okay?"

Peter tensed instantly, his eyes darting to Tony's face. Instead of answering the boy simply pulled his hand away and walked slowly to his aunt, taking her hand and sitting cross legged on the floor, face turned to the madness that was the kitchen. "Okay."

"Alright, let's start with what the _hell _did that dickhead do?" Tony asked. Peter winced at Tony's tone, which he would admit was a bit harsher than necessary, although Tony felt the name was justified.

"He- i… we where…" Peter started, waving his hand around, the other still holding his aunt's hand.

"Okay, fine. Let's try it this way, I'll ask you answer. Sound good?' He asked. Peter nodded his head, his eyes still fixated on May.

"So Chris did hit you, right Peter?" Tony asked, holding his breath slightly as Peter nodded. He tightened his hold on Peter.

"Okay… okay okay okay…" He muttered under his breath. "And he hit May?" He asked.

"Once." Peter muttered. "Earlier. She told me to leave."

"She told you to leave?" Tony asked, surprised. "Why? What happened?"

"She got a call from you about k-karen and the suit while I was at school…" Peter started. Another tear dropped. "She made me tell her and called him… she had me go out the window and I heard them… fighting." Peter said, pulling his knees to his chest. "She screamed and I… I came in and…" His face crumpled, and he ducked his head down to his knees, trying to hide his tears.

Tony didn't dare do anything, simply held onto peter and waited for the ambulances to arrive and for them to take the kids aunt and Chris. It didn't take long, he could already hear the sirens, and he would guess that peter had heard them far earlier, keeping his body tightly curled. It wasn't until they were knocking on the door that Peter let go of his aunts hand. Peter got to his feet, stepping towards the door, making Tony follow suit.

"Hi, we got a call about to unconfuse adults-" the EMT at the door started. Peter just bobbed his head, pointing to the kitchen. This seemed to be all the instruction they needed, rushing in to assess.

"Come on Peter, you shouldn't see this." Tony said, steering him out the door. Peter followed easily, seemingly agreeing with the sentiment. Tony was about to let go of Peter, but the kid tripped three times on the way to the stairs, seemingly weighed down by what he had just seen. It almost seemed like a physical burden, pushing down on his young shoulders.

Once on the street, there was nothing but the glint of traffic lights and cars that were loud enough that even Tony felt like covering his ears. The streets must be hell for Peter, but the teen didn't seem to react at all, simply watching the people around them with mild interest.

It took him a moment to realize that he hadn't driven but flown, taking his suit, and hadn't thought to call Happy ahead of time, which is how he ended up standing on the grossest buss of all time. After seeing the rat family burrowing into the cushions he decided he didn't want to risk the seats, for both him and Peters sake.

Speaking off, Peter didn't seem to be doing well with…well, any of it. He was visibly shaking, his fingers wrapped loosely around the poll, and his eyes were glassy and scared. Lucky they were able to get off a few stops later, able to escape the ramblings of the man sitting nearest to Tony, at least he thought it was a man, who was rocking under a ratty gray blanket. Tony held on tightly to Peter as they got off, not wanting to lose him in the night time rush. After that it was a short walk back. Peter stayed completely silent the whole time, keeping his head down and eyes low.

Tony eyed the bullet holes in the wall that they hadn't removed yet, making him tighten his grip on Peter. There was bad luck, and then there was statistically impossible, and then there was Peter. They rode the elevator in silence. He wanted to let Peter enjoy it for as long as he could allow. He wasn't going to say anything unless Peter asked, but the kids aunt was making him nervous, and even if she did make a full recovery Tony would end up watching Peter for a while anyway, so he would have to be actually responsible, beyond just keeping Peter at a baseline level of _not dead or on the bottom of an airplane. _Soon enough though, they were seated on the couch. Tony far prefered to have hard conversations in his lab, but that was because usually he was being confronted about something, and blowing something up in there face was a good way to make people shut up. He didn't think it would apply here.

"Peter…" He started.

"Is my aunt going to be okay?" Peter asked, finally meeting his eyes again.

"I don't know." He said honestly.

"You can't predict the future, but you understand biology, better than I do anyway, you must have some idea." Peter challenged.

"Your aunt… she is a very strong woman, but if she recovers it will take a long time, even with my people working on her. I can't promise anything but… she'll fight to stay with you."

"Okay." Peter said, drawing his knees up to use as a barrier. Tony sighed, shifting to face him better.

"Peter, I need you to tell me what happened with Chris okay? I wouldn't ask if I was just curious, but I am going to need to talk to lawyers and if they have wrong information…" he said, leading off.

"I understand…" Peter said slowly, not lifting his head. Unsure of what to do, Tony wrapped an arm around the teen, allowing him a minute to calm down before he started asking questions. Peter rubbed at his eyes, trying to remove all traces of tear marks left on his face.

"She was telling me to come here." Peter said finally, after sitting in silence for several minutes longer than Tony would have liked. Not that he minded, but it worried him. Even when nervous or hurt Peter would usually talk more, he didn't like to see him shut down like this.

"She was?" He asked, prompting.

"Yeah. She saw some marks on my arm and was going to confront him. She uh… she didn't want me around him at all though… a-and so i was supposed to take the bus here." Peter said, stammering his way through the sentence.

"How'd you get the marks?" Tony asked. He needed to know what happened today, but he could tell from personal experience and mistakes that if he pushed to hard right now Peter would shut down immediately.

"We… I um…" Peter took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself down. "We were fighting and I tried to leave because I was worried that May would come back and that it would make her upset because until today she thought we got along great so yeah, i was uh, walking down the stairs and um, well I put my earbuds is and he uh, he grabbed the big potted tree and threw it at me so i kinda fell down the stairs and-"

"He threw a tree at you! While you were on the stairs? Holy shit Peter you-" He started, having completely abandoned his facade of calmness. When he was Spider Man it was one thing, but without the mask he was just so _young _and _small _that Tony had to stop himself from warning Peter about catching his fingers in the hinges. It seemed insane that someone would hurt a kid like that, especially one like Peter.

"Don't worry Mr. Stark." Peter said.

"_Don't worry? _Are you insane? You could have died." He said, pulling the kid against him again, serving as a reminder that he was still very much alive, if not a little boney.

"No i couldn't have Mr. Stark. I'm spiderman remember? I get punched every day, it's just without the suit I couldn't do anything to stop him." Peter said, his voice full of forced calm.

"Peter, just because you can take a hit doesn't mean you should. It's one thing if your fighting crime where you are helping people by getting hit, and wearing your suit so I know what's happening and I can help you. Nobody is gaining by him beating you up, and I can't help you if you don't tell me everything that happened."

"You're wrong." Peter said bluntly. He wasn't trying to hide the tears on his face anymore, and Tony didn't know if that was better or worse.

"About what Peter? What do I have wrong? Please tell me." Peter snapped his head up to make eye contact with him, his big brown eyes bloodshot from crying and slightly unsettling. He looked positive he was right.

"It was helping someone."

"Peter, there is no way that this-" He gesture to the bruise on Peters face, "helped anyone."

"If May left him then he would go hit another kid. One without superpowers, and if i told May she would freak out like she did and now she's hurt…" Damn this child.

"You could have called the police." Tony insisted.

"Mr. Stark, this was the first time she was happy sense last year when Ben died. I didn't like him, but I don't think that I would have liked anyone she dated." Peter said, staring at the floor again. "I just… I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"Except for yourself huh?" Tony said.

"Well I'm a superhero, I knew that he couldn't hurt me to bad, and if I had to I could always fight back. Not everyone could sir." Peter said. "I didn't like it, but I couldn't let anyone get hurt because of me. I-I just… I um… It…" peters face crumpled as he pulled his knees to hide his face.

"Oh Peter…" He said, pulling the teen against him. They stayed like that for a long time, Peters shaking calmed down after five or so minutes, but he didn't move, so neither did Tony. he didn't know how long they had been like that, but long after his legs had fallen asleep, he heard the sliding of the elevator door. A few moments later, Natasha was in front of him, although he hadn't heard her footsteps at all, looking sadly at Peter.

"He's-" Tony started.

"Asleep. I know." She said, peering at the teenager. She was always a little gentler with Peter, smoothing his hair back with her hand.

"Sir, there is an incoming call from memorial hospital, would you like me to answer?" FRIDAY asked, automatically lowering her volume so as to not wake the child.

"Uh, ye-" Natasha shook her head violently making her bright hair flare around her. "No, thank you FRIDAY."

"You are welcome sir." She said, powering down.

"Why…" He asked, gesturing to the ceiling.

"I was just at the hospital, I know what they want to tell you, and the volume would have woken Peter, even turned down." Natasha said in almost a whisper.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked. Natasha managed to maintain a neutral face while she spoke, her eyes staying on the teenager.

"Chris will make a full recovery, he will be released into police custody in the morning after staying the night for observation." She said.

"Okay, can't say I wasn't rooting the other way but i guess that's good for Peter." he said. She nodded, swallowing thickly. "What about May."

"They… May Parker was lost on the ambulance ride to the hospital. They attempted resuscitation on site, and continued until they reached the hospital, where her brain was determined to damaged to sustain life anymore." She said, allowing a single tear down her face.

"She's gone?" He asked, breathless. Natasha nodded.

"Social services will be in contact with you soon about Peter's permanent place of residence." She said.

"He can't go into the foster system." Tony said. "Aside from Spiderman, it's incredibly dangerous, and he's so smart to."

"Well where is he gonna stay." Natasha asked. "He can't live in an apartment by himself."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Tony snapped. He was only meet with Natashas icy stare. "Sorry. He has a room here, just incase he had wanted to become an avenger, he could stay there."

"Tony, you can't take on a teenager, you can barely take care of yourself." She said, eyeing the boy collapsed onto him.

"It's not that I can't take care of myself, it's that I choose not to when there is something that needs finishing. If I chose to I could be getting 8 hours of sleep, eating vegetables and running."

"But will you?" She asked, her green eyes boring into his. As much as he wanted to answer yes immediately, he had to pause and think. He didn't know if ever in his life he had made that choice before.

"I have done all kinds of statistically impossible things from force of will, this will be similar, except with more motivation." he said. Peter shifted in his sleep, sorta nuzzling into Tony. "I'm not gonna leave him alone."

"I see. I'll draw up some papers for you, make the process as smooth as possible." natasha said, pressing a kiss to Peter's head before standing up.

"Thank you Natasha." He said, smiling.

"No problem. And Tony," She said, turning around. "Put me down for babysitting duty, kay?" she asked, not waiting for a response before turning around and walking out, leaving Tony alone with the sleeping teen. His leg was starting to hurt really bad, but after what Natasha had told him he didn't want to risk waking Peter up. He shouldn't have to face this before he had to.

"We're going to take care of you, Peter. You have Natasha on your side, nobody can hurt you now."


End file.
